Perhaps it was fitting that the words of Paul McCartney’s famous ode to acceptance echoed around Goodison Park before a half of derby football which was both heart-warming and heart-breaking in equal measure.

’Let It Be’ sang the choirboy on the pitch during the break, and Everton were duly forced to be philosophical after a contest which promised so much, but in the end succumbed to the seemingly inevitable.

There was a feeling of deja-vu for the home supporters when Daniel Sturridge levelled for Liverpool with a minute of normal time remaining. Having battled back from going behind twice, Everton had dominated the midfield and suggested a thrilling victory was on the cards.

Then Liverpool did what they so often do, and delivered the sucker-punch square in the gut.

They might have had to be content with a point, but for Everton there was a promising newness about the afternoon.

The Toffees more than played their part in a classic between two ideologically similar managers, each advocates of the continental passing approach, and ultimately they produced the braver, more entertaining football.

How often have Bluenoses watched their side seize the initiative in a showdown with their rivals and commit themselves so relentlessly to winning? This may have not yielded the desired outcome but as a portent of things to come it was a resounding positive.

Former derby heroes Lee Carlsey and Kevin Campbell were paraded on the pitch during the interval, but both must have concluded that they were watching a side vastly different from the teams they graced.

Where once Everton were the blood and thunder plucky pretenders, charged with out-muscling their more refined opponents, times have changed.

Ross Barkley was reintroduced from the start and at times threatened to take affairs by the scruff of the neck in the same manner Steven Gerrard in the opposition ranks once did during derbies.

The teenager was outstanding. Imagine how good he will be when his rough edges have been erased.

Decision making and concentration are perhaps his only minor flaws, but what he offers in contrast is significant. Barkley will learn from his lapses, like the momentary neglect when he switched off and allowed Coutinho to plunder a gallingly early lead for Liverpool from a corner.

Even then, faced with such an early set-back, Evertonians becoming accustomed to Roberto Martinez’s style might have known an equaliser was due.

It was Kevin Mirallas who delivered, tellingly from a Barkley nod down, and the Belgian’s timing was spot on. It was time he produced a consistent performance after an infuriatingly indifferent start to the season.

The winger was lucky to stay on the pitch after a mistimed lunge on Suarez, but he made the most of that reprieve and produced a display full of craft and commitment. If only he was in this form more often.

Fine margins in football account for much, hence why Steven Pienaar’s slack positioning in the wall allowed Luis Suarez to peg the Blues back again from that exquisite free-kick, but even trailing at the break, there was a sense Everton were always going to come back.

That they did in a second 45 minutes during which they dominated the midfield and at times seemed as if they had an extra man, such was the rapacity of their possession and movement.

Mersey Derby passion as Everton fans celebrate Lukaku goal

Even the galling sight of Leighton Baines limping off was soothed when Gerard Deulofeu replaced him, and the Barcelona loan starlet further cranked up Everton’s attacking threat. It was no shame on Jon Flanagan that the gifted winger started to go past him, few full-backs will be able to cope with his mesmeric feet and desire to run at defenders.

The shame is that Deulofeu and Romelu Lukaku’s time on Merseyside is limited, but they have already shown they will have a considerable impact while they’re here.

Thankfully James McCarthy’s tenure is more guaranteed, and the ever impressive midfielder showed good awareness on the back of a mature display to tee-up Lukaku to level again. Then the big striker showed why luminaries such as Duncan Ferguson and Andy Gray talked about him in such glowing terms by scoring a barn-storming header which would have made both proud.

Like Barkley, he too must improve his decision making, but he still shone like a beacon in the second half. Liverpool’s goalkeeper Simon Mignolet had to be in inspired form, and even though Sturridge delivered that late slap in the face, it was the visitors who must have celebrated like they had won.

Afterwards both managers puffed out their cheeks and acknowledged a derby to remember, perhaps on par with the renowned 4-4 of 1991.

That was a game which saw an Everton side at the end of an era. This time, with four players aged under 21 on the pitch at the end, they’re only just beginning.